J.K. Rowling secretly wrote an original song for the new 'Harry Potter' spinoff movie

J.K. Rowling wrote the script and a song for "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," which stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander.
REUTERS/Neil Hall

The INSIDER Summary:

• J.K. Rowling wrote a song called "Blind Pig" for "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."• It mentions a lot of magical creatures.
• It was sung by a British singer named Emmie Joy Green.
• She had no idea what the song would be used for and was contacted out of the blue.

What's "Blind Pig"? In the movie, it's the name of the pub Newt Scamander, the movie's protagonist, and his crew visit during their adventure. The film takes place in 1926 New York, during the prohibition era, so it's a speakeasy. When they enter, there's a female goblin singing a song. That's the one Rowling wrote.

You can listen to it here:

The song's a jazz number about a broken romance, illustrated through magical creatures acting unusually.

It's sung by an obscure 29-year-old British-born singer named Emmie Joy Green, who goes by Emmi. The whole experience of recording the song was mysterious. She doesn't have a manager or a record label, according to the BBC, and was contacted "out of the blue" by director David Yates.

"I got this email from someone I didn't know saying, 'Do you mind singing this? Here are some lyrics, give it a try,'" she told BBC. She recorded the first draft in her childhood bedroom.

Tina and Queenie outside of the Blind Pig in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
Warner Bros.

The whole experience was very mysterious. She wasn't told who wrote the song or how it would be used.

"I knew the song was called 'Blind Pig' but I had no idea why, because there's no mention of a pig in it," Emmi told Pottermore. "I now know it's because that's the name of the speakeasy, but I found that fact out online like everybody else. I thought it was some codename to cover up what the song was about. It's been like a hilarious mystery."

Emmi noticed that the lyrics mentioned Hippogriffs and Billywigs, which sounded familiar.

"I started thinking, 'This sounds like something from Harry Potter,' so I Googled the words and confirmed that for myself," she told BBC. It was only then that she realized the song might be connected to "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." And only when she did a recording session in London and listened to parts of James Newton Howard's soundtrack did she realize the full scope of the movie she was working on.

Still, Emmi didn't know the song was written by Rowling herself until the film's IMDB page was updated a few weeks ago, she told BBC.